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How to choose a hotel in Osaka
There are so many hotel choices in Japan that it can be intimidating to choose one to stay in during your visit. I spent several months researching affordable places with good transportation locations and good reviews online.
Fraser Residence Nankai in Osaka was one place that checked many boxes for us, and we loved staying there. It offers the perfect location and the comforts and amenities of home. We chose this hotel based on its ideal location, cost, and the simple fact that it provided in-room washers/dryers.
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Traveling to Osaka
This hotel stay was mid-trip, and we knew we would want to do laundry to recycle many of our clothes instead of overpacking for fourteen days. It worked out great, and we highly recommend this hotel.
After traveling from Tokyo on our first Shinkansen ride, we arrived at Shin-Osaka Station precisely on time. We followed Google Maps and used our Pasmo IC cards to travel on the Midosuji Line to Namba Osaka Station. After that, it was a 3 minute walk to our new home base, Fraser Residence Nankai in Osaka!
Fraser Residence Nankai Osaka
We booked this room seven months before our arrival using Booking.com and had free cancellation until 24 hours before arriving, which was extremely helpful during the planning stages.
Fraser Residence is located in the heart of Namba district in Osaka. This impressive “hotel” is more like luxury serviced apartments and studios with several different room styles and configurations of floor plans. It is a unique and modern place to stay and is conveniently located close to Namba Station and many must-see places in Osaka.
The hotel features free high-speed internet, a business center, a gym, a sauna, high-tech TVs that we could easily connect to our Netflix account, and free WiFi. Fraser also has a security feature where you need a room key to use the elevators up to the rooms or to get into the lobby after 9 PM.
The lobby offers complimentary amenities for hygiene and toiletries like toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotions, razors, and just about anything you could have forgotten at home.
Check in was simple
We arrived just after the standard check-in time of 3:00 PM and were promptly given a room on the 11th floor with a city view. The staff was english speaking and very helpful and friendly. As soon as we entered the room, we were greeted by our luggage, which had been delivered and was set up nicely and waiting for us.
More about the luggage service in this post!
We stayed in a king studio with a lovely city view and a view of Namba Parks Shopping complex. Our room included a mini refrigerator, electric kettle, small stove top, dishes, cookware, silverware, umbrellas, washer/dryer combo, pajamas, and slippers! They even provided Japanese candies, laundry soap, teas and coffees, and bottled water.
Namba Ribbon Restaurant
Shortly after we checked in, we headed downstairs to the restaurant. Another fantastic perk of Fraser Residence is the on-site hotel restaurant and bar located in the lobby. Namba Ribbon Restaurant is known to be one of the best restaurants in Osaka.
We enjoyed the duck prosciutto and plum liquor, and it was a great spot to watch Osaka rush hour walk past. Our hotel reservation included the breakfast buffet, so we knew we would eat here again in the morning. Just wait until you see this buffet!
Breakfast Buffet
Let me tell you about this epic breakfast buffet!! Namba Ribbon Restaurant serves a fantastic daily breakfast with over 30 Japanese and Western dishes. By far, it was the best hotel breakfast we had encountered on our entire trip.
There were so many choices, and they had great standard daily dishes and wonderful new and different things daily, too. We started every day by stuffing ourselves with this excellent breakfast and heading out on adventures!
Location Location Location
Osaka is known to be grittier than Tokyo, but we enjoyed the more laid-back vibe. Even though Osaka is Japan’s third-largest city, it felt calmer and a bit easier to navigate.
Again, Fraser Residence’s location is perfect! We were less than 10 minutes from the lively entertainment area of Dotonbori, Osaka’s most famous tourist destination renowned for its neon lights, extravagant signage, and enormous variety of restaurants and bars. We were close to shopping, dining, entertainment, gardens, parks, and temples. Lots of things were walkable or effortless train rides.
Eat Local
There are tons of great food choices within minutes of Fraser Residence, which is nice considering Osaka is also known as the “kitchen” of Japan. A few of our favorites were Kura Sushi, Kyabetsu-yaki Namba, and Tenkaippin—Namba. Oh, and Family Mart, of course—so many choices!
Mark and I stayed here for three nights and both of us wished we could have stayed longer. We truly enjoyed this hotel, and we would definitely stay again during future trips to Osaka, Japan. It’s so close to the action, yet remains so peaceful!
Thank you for reading, we look forward to sharing the rest of our trip day by day in the coming weeks!
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In-room washer/dryer is a smart thing to offer their guests. It is a brilliant idea to take advantage of it while of a long stay. I never would have thought about that when planning that kind of trip.
Wow, amazing!
Wish I had the opportunity to do that, but my next one will be out west🤞